It is well known to balance wheel assemblies comprising tires and wheel rims in a dynamic fashion using thixotropic balancing gels instead of the classic, static metal weights fitted to the edges of the wheel rim, see e.g. EP 0 557 365 describing such a gel. The thixotropic balancing gel is designed to be able to change from a gel into a viscous fluid when subjected to the shear forces resulting from the vibrations produced in an unbalanced wheel assembly on a moving vehicle, and upon the change in rheological properties the resulting viscous liquid or fluid in the tire will move to a position where it counteracts the imbalance, thereby stopping the vibrations. Once the vibrations have stopped, the balancing material will re-assume its gel state and remain in place, even when the vehicle stops. Also, imbalances occurring later on e.g. as a result of uneven tyre wear will constantly be balanced out.
In such applications, a suitable amount of the balancing gel is applied in the air chamber of the tire, namely on the inside of the outer tire wall on the surface of the tire liner as provided during manufacture of the tire. When the gel becomes a viscous liquid as a result of being exposed to the shear forces from the imbalance, the liquid will therefore have to flow across the entire surface of the tire liner and hence have to overcome whatever surface forces are present between the gel and the tire liner resulting from the surface tension between them, the surface tension typically being quantified by the contact angle between the gel/liquid and the tire liner. Clearly, such a flow process will require a certain amount of time, particularly when the surface tension conditions cause a certain degree of adhesion between the gel and the liner, and it would clearly be advantageous if the time requirement could be reduced since it would mean a quicker balancing process.
However, there have been no attempts at improving the ability of a thixotropic balancing gel to flow across the surface and hence potentially reduce the time necessary to attain balance of the wheel assembly.